Positive Reinforcement (R+) Horse Training in Practice: Evaluation of Online Trailer-Training Demonstrations

Operant conditioning that includes primarily positive reinforcement (R+) has been shown to be an effective and welfare-friendly method of training horses. Despite this, operant conditioning and R+ are not fully understood by many horse trainers who claim to advocate for its use. Anecdotal observations suggest that some professional trainers who claim to use R+ do not use R+ primarily, even in publicly offered educational demonstrations. To better understand readily available training materials regarding the use of R+ with horses, we reviewed a sample of 20 online trailer-training demonstrations to evaluate the extent to which R+ was used. Based on the percentage of trainer actions judged to be R+ versus negative reinforcement (R-), positive punishment (P+), or negative punishment (P-), eight of the 20 (40%) demonstrations included R+ exclusively. Three additional demonstrations included primarily R+ (> 90% of trainer actions), with the remainder R-. Seven used mostly R+ (55–80% R+ in combination with R-), and two used little R+ (16–23%), with the remainder mostly R-. The percentage of positive behavioral responses of the horse toward loading progress was strongly positively associated with the percentage of R+ trainer actions (r2 = 0.90, p < 0.0001). The results of this sample confirm that not all online demonstrations of R+ accurately portray primarily R+.